Compassion Fatigue Among Residents in an Inner City Teaching Hospital

Abstract

APGO Advisor: Sonya Erickson, MD PURPOSE: To estimate the prevalence of Compassion Fatigue in residents. BACKGROUND: Compassion Fatigue (CF), a reflection of emotional and physical exhaustion in the workplace, is of interest to medical professionals. Studies assessing prevalence of CF among residents are scarce. METHODS: Residents in four specialties at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan—obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, internal medicine, and emergency medicine—were surveyed using the Professional Quality of Life Scale (PROQOL) Version 5 (2009). This validated, structured 30-item instrument assesses Burn out (BO) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), with CF defined as the combination of BO and STS. Compassion Satisfaction (CS) is also assessed. Raw scores are categorized as low (bottom 25th), moderate (26th to 75th) or high (76th and above) relative to a previously defined normal distribution of scores. Demographic data on gender, year of training, and specialty were also collected. The study was institutional review board–approved. RESULTS: Response rate was 28% (60/214). The prevalence of high BO was 26.2% and high STS was 28.3%. 13.3% of residents had high CF (8/60), and 35% (21/60) had moderate amount of CF. 33.38% of respondents had low CS. No significant differences based on gender, year of training and specialty were noted. BO and STS were positively correlated (P=.001). CS correlated negatively with both BO (P=.001), and STS (P=.032). DISCUSSION: CF is prevalent in residents. CS appears to protect against it.